Chicago mayor to open gift closet to public — but there's a catch
CHICAGO - Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said on Tuesday that the public will have a chance to see what’s inside City Hall’s gift closet—but there’s a catch.
Johnson insists he’s following city ethics rules by maintaining a log of gifts received while in office and storing them in a designated closet—a closet, he notes, that he has never actually stepped into.
He says he’s puzzled by the inspector general’s decision to investigate the matter.
The backstory:
The OIG visited City Hall undercover and requested to see the logbook. The Mayor's Office denied the request and directed OIG officials to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Inspector general officials said they filed a FOIA request in a "covert capacity" and the Mayor's Office failed to respond in a timely manner, reflecting a denial of the request.
The OIG then sent an official document request to the Mayor's Office for the logbook and received a spreadsheet detailing 380 gifts accepted by the Mayor's Office "on behalf of the city" between Feb. 2, 2022 and March 20, 2024. Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot's logs included entries for 144 gifts received while Johnson's logs contained 236 entries.
Among the gifts given under the Johnson administration were Hugo Boss cufflinks; Givenchy, Gucci, and Kate Spade handbags; a personalized Mont Blanc pen; and size 14 men’s shoes, OIG officials said. Some of the gifts were stored in the gift room and the others were in Mayor Brandon Johnson's personal office, the inspector said.
The OIG visited the fifth floor to conduct an unannounced inspection of the Gift Room and was denied access.
"When gifts are changing hands—perhaps literally—in a windowless room in City Hall, there is no opportunity for oversight and public scrutiny of the propriety of such gifts, the identities or intentions of the gift-givers, or what it means for gifts like whiskey, jewelry, handbags, and size 14 men’s shoes to be accepted ‘on behalf of the City,’" said Deborah Witzburg, inspector general for the City of Chicago.
Under the Governmental Ethics Ordinance, city officials are generally prohibited from accepting gifts of value over $50 unless they are "accepted on behalf of the city."
Most of the entries did not disclose the gift-givers.
What's next:
The city’s top attorney, Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson Lowry, announced that starting next week, anyone in Chicago will be able to view the contents of the closet—virtually. The mayor’s office plans to upload video footage online for the public to access.
"Those things are going to be posted publicly, so the public knows there's this list of gifts of what came in," Richardson-Lowry said.
IG Deborah Witzburgh told FOX 32 this evening that while she acknowledges the improvement, it’s still not sufficient.
"Those gifts are city property and investigators should be able to see them with their own eyes," Witzburgh said.
The Source: FOX 32's Paris Schutz reported on this story.